1929 ] 
Some Remarks on the Masarid Wasps 
369 
C. H. Hicks’ paper entitled u Pseudomasaris edwardsii 
Cresson, another pollen-provisioning wasp, with further 
notes on P. vespoides (Cresson)” (1929, Canad. Entom., 
LXI, pp. 121-125) is an extremely valuable contribution to 
our scant knowledge of masarid biology. The author was 
fortunate in discovering in California the nests of P. ed- 
wardsii: they are built of clay and attached to rocks, often 
filling depressions in them, the number of cells per nest 
varying from one to ten. Pollen masses were found stored 
in the cells of some of the nests. Hicks also bred a number 
of parasites from these nests: a mutillid of the genus 
Pliotopsis, a chrysid ( Chrysis densa Cresson), and some 
chalcids which may have been hyperparasites. According 
to Timberlake, P. edwardsii is common at Riverside, Cal- 
ifornia, during May when it visits the flowers of Phacelia. 
The same paper contains an interesting observation of 
the mating of P. vespoides , made in Colorado on May 29, 
1927. “A male, after sipping nectar from the flowers or 
going for a short flight, had a habit of returning to a rock 
close to the ground and resting on its surface in the sun. 
Before alighting he would hover above the spot, then alight 
and remain with wings outstretched, nearly but not quite 
at right angles to his body. At 11.45 A. M. this male was 
found copulating with a female on a flower of Pentstemon 
acuminatus. The female was in position for obtaining nec- 
tar ; the male upon her with his antennae bent forward and 
gently tapping her with them on the front of her thorax. 
Her fore legs were folded, her wings lightly to the side and 
her abdomen somewhat elevated. Soon there was consider- 
able buzzing. It could be seen that the two were in copula 
and after 15 seconds of intense buzzing, both flew away. 
The female soon returned to collect while the male flew 
again to his rock.” Females and males were sometimes 
found resting in the corolla of Pentstemon, when the 
weather was cloudy or rainy or in the evening. In Colo- 
rado P. vespoides visited almost exclusively Pentstemon 
acuminatus, while in California the same species was found 
on Pentstemon heterophyllus. 
These observations on Pseudomasaris confirm what I have 
w r ritten concerning the anthophilous habits of the Masa- 
ridinse. 
